Meglin Kiddies

Meglin Kiddies was a well-known troupe of acting, music and dance performers, consisting of children up to the age of 16. (AKA: The Meglin Professional Children's School, The Meglin Dance Studio, Meglin's Dance School and Meglin's Wondrous Hollywood Kiddies).

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The troupe was started by Ethel Meglin in 1928. Meglin was a Ziegfeld girl in feature films.[1] Director/actor and Slapstick Keystone King Mack Sennett was supportive of the formation of the troupe's studio. Sennett donated a Meglin Kiddie studio building sign and assisted in securing an operations location on his lot.[2] The Johnny Grant Building[3] at 7018-7024 Hollywood Blvd once housed the Meglin Dance Studio on its second floor.

One of the most successful child stars of all time, Shirley Temple, was once a Meglin Kiddie dancer. Producers from Educational Studios recruited her from the Meglin Kiddie studio.[4] "Charles Lamont, a director from Educational Studios visited the “Meglin Kiddies” and chose Shirley, hiding under the piano, for a part in a movie that the studio was about to make."[5]

Superstar Judy Garland was a Meglin Kiddie also.[6] Garland's mother, Mrs. Gumm, played the piano at the Meglin Kiddie studio to help pay for Garland's singing and dancing lessons there.[7] The film debut of Judy Garland was in Meglin Kiddie short films.[8] Garland also performed with the Meglin Kiddies over the radio, and live at theaters such as: Shrine Auditorium, Pantages Theatre (Hollywood), and Loew's State Theater in Los Angeles, California.[9]